Former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s standing in the 2016 presidential race has never been weaker. When he initially threw his hat in the ring, he was considered by many to be the frontrunner for the nomination.
But with his poll numbers slipping, he has had to slash his campaign staff budget, and a recent release from The Hill has Bush ranked as low as fifth in the GOP field.
Bush needs a win — or at least a big moment — in tonight’s debate. But with the media billing the debate as a showdown between billionaire Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson, experts say it could be nearly impossible for Bush to break through. And that could be a death knell for his campaign.
Here are some other things to look for heading into tonight’s debate:
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Marco Rubio
No one is better positioned to benefit from Bush’s struggles than his Florida protege, Marco Rubio. Especially after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker quit the race, the 44-year-old first-term senator is considered one of the few candidates who can bridge the GOP’s warring factions by appealing to establishment and hard-line wings. Bush’s team has identified Rubio as its greatest threat. The two may be longtime friends, but expect Bush to go on the attack. Rubio has largely avoided getting dragged into the back-and-forth so far. He may have no option Wednesday night.
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Ben Carson
Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, may be one of the least known candidates despite his top-of-the-pack polling. After playing bit parts in the first two debates, Carson has become a higher priority for his rivals, particularly those chasing the antiestablishment vote. None has gone after Carson more aggressively than billionaire businessman Donald Trump, who has questioned Carson’s energy, policies and religion. The soft-spoken Carson has refused to counterattack, but expect him to defend himself and explain his positions in the face of mounting pressure. His aides also hope he will tone down the rhetoric; during the campaign he’s made references to Nazis and slavery.
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Donald Trump
Only in the past week or two has Trump shown signs of vulnerability, but the showman is the ultimate wild card on the debate stage. He has shown a willingness to say or do virtually anything on national television, and heading into the debate, he has jabbed at just about every challenger — none more so than Carson. Based on the ratings in previous debates, people are drawn to the Trump show, but are they growing tired of his act?
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And the rest
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was a political powerhouse not long ago. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was among the most interesting figures in politics. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was a champion college debater. Former technology executive Carly Fiorina was an earlier debate winner. Yet all came into Wednesday night’s debate as supporting actors. With 10 candidates on the stage for two hours, there simply won’t be enough time for everyone to stand out — and some of them need to.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
the Horn News, looks good about now especially since most News outlets are favoring their chosen Candidates. I like your style(providing it is consistent with the issues of the day). It reminds me of Sport News, most of us have busy lives and want a general overview of the day’s details not a comment or political jab. Thanks for an honest report. Keep up with those attention getting reports.
Sorry to say, I was asked to Vote. Rick Santorum who won’t the Debate was not on that poll, WHY???
Is Horn now pulling a FOXNEWS tactics, Want us to Vote but you control who we can vote for.
I refuse to take the poll. Bobby Jandal was on the top ten. A more like Communest Candidate than a Conservative. No boy is listen to Jandal.
Jendal want a Cashless Society. He already signed into law, NO SECOND HAND CASH TRANSACTIONS
THIS IS THE FIRST STEP TO HIS COMMUNIST SOCIALIST CRAZINESS
IF YOU CAN’T BE FAIR TO ALL CANDIDATES AND ALL OF AMERICANS THAN I SURELY DON’T WANT TO HEAR FROM THE HORN. Each candidate has the right to be heard. I’m still in a country call America am I not?
Jeb Bush needs to step out of the running he can’t win!
Yes, he should. But he is still the “chosen one” of the GOP Republican Establishment and they will not go out without a fight or some other corrupt manipulation of the votes. The GOP is just as evil and corrupt as the DemocRat Party.
We the people need to take whatever steps necessary to clean up our government because the politicians are incapable of anything but corruption.
I whole heartedly agree. It is time to CLEAN house in D.C.. If we are a free country WE THE PEOPLE can do it.
It seems that “we the people” are powerless . . . . The Republicans seem powerless to stand up for what is right! What is wrong with them . . . . Don’t those in the media realize that they will suffer along with the conservatives? And what is going on in the schools . . . a girl was punished for wearing a ‘purity’ ring? And now we are at a point where there is pressure for men and women to share the same restrooms! What this could do to children . . . . . AND worst of all to possibly have to choose between Hillary and Trump as PRESIDENT? ? ? AND THEN PERHAPS HAVE TRUMP RUN ON A 3RD PARTY TICKET ! ! ! ! MAKES ME SICKKKKKKKK
I agree with Maxx and the only Canidate capable of keeping the CORRUPT REPUBLICAN ESTABLISHMENT in check to some degree is Trump ! They including JEBBIE despise the man. This Country will be in the same shape 4 or 8 years from now if JEBBIE, (Mr.establishment himself) God forbid, should he be elected.
This Country truly needs change and Trump or Carson or Cruz are the only candidates on the stage that have a chance of changing this Countries path.
This is why RHINO’S and ESTABLISHMENT REPUBLICAN’S despise these three GREAT CANDIDATES !
I fully support Trump, along with Ted Cruz. These are the only two whom I believe can save the country from where that MORON has put us. And since this should not be a popularity contest, but be run by knowledgeable folks, Ben needs to get real and realize that “He knows Nothing” and get out, and take care of his malpractice suits. That does not look good on his resume, refusing to take responsibility for his incompetence.
You would be more credible if you did not resort to name calling. But, that’s just what Trump does and you like that. I would hate to learn that our country admires and respects name callers and bullies and would elevate them to a leadership position. Ben Carson has shown a great deal of intelligence in his campaign. Trump filing for bankruptcy sounds more like someone (a typical politician) refusing to take responsibility for his incompetence (really not incompetence but carefully thought out business strategy that hurts others); he doesn’t care what he did to the human beings that he took money from and found a way not to repay them on multiple occasions. Ben Carson has devoted his life to helping others. He was not always successful, but gives it 100%. He exhibits perspicacious judgment in domestic and foreign affairs. I am leaning toward a vote for Marco Rubio, but it’s early.
No one wants Jeb Bush! He needs to back out!
Mexico wants him, he would let 3/4 of Mexico in the white house, like Barry has with the muslims.
Too. Late !
This presidential election is one of the scariest I believe we are going through, not knowing who to really trust in what they are saying and if they are just sayers or doers! I still have my eyes and ears on 3 candidates in hopes one of them can convince me they are the best for the job, but Jeb Bush is not one of them. No more bushes!
Jebbie is the Establishment Rhino candidate but he is just the same old same old Empty Suit that is controllable by the ESTABLISHMENT RHINO’S !
no more Bushes or Clintons, please….
I agree Please Please No more Bushes & Clintons They got to GO Go !!!! We need change Thats will be Donald Trump 2016 rid of all do nothing Rhionos go home !!!
Ted Cruz has been the only consistent Conservative in this race so far…..He does what he says he’s going to do…The only one who has stood up to both parties….While the others fly around on private jets, etc., Cruz flies on Southwest Airlines, trying to save as much of his donors money as he can…He knows and follows the Constitution like the back of his hand……You can research all this for yourselves….Don’t just take my word for this…..Research his website….Do what you have to do, but find out the real story before it’s too late.
There are only 4 people that deserve to win, Carson, Cruz, Rubio and Carly!
Hey Merril, bet there won’t be one more foot of wall built to try and end millions more of the 700 million Mexicans and illegal lmmigrants from coming into the US when ever they please !
He doesn’t have the NUGGETS to even put a dent into curbing open borders!
Who is the “he” you are talking about? There are a lot more people illegally entering our country than coming across the border of Mexico. Mexicans have been digging tunnels for years.
Cut that down to three…cut Carly. It’s gonna come down to Trump and Carson. A candidate who offers or says he’ll forfeit his salary, is a person who has the Countries best interest in mind plus the man has self financed his own campaign. What else can he do ?
And you think someone with the kind of wealth Trump has is going to understand you. You will like him if you happen to agree with him, but if you don’t, he’s not going to be listening to you. I’ll bet you can’t even imagine having so much money that the salary that our President earns means nothing to you. He’s just conquering one more thing in his life. Power is much more meaningful to him that money.
You are wrong
The Clinton forces are drooling over the idea of Trump being the GOP nominee. Hillary would make mincemeat of Trump in a Presidential debate. Trump is a rank amateur compared to her. In addition, Hillary has always been a policy wonk; Trump will come off looking very much a simpleton. Marco Rubio is the only candidate who could stand up to attacks from the Clinton camp and they know it. Bill Clinton, after viewing old videos of Rubio’s past debate performances, declared that it was his hope that Rubio would be eliminated early, before he got much of a chance to form a following.
Jay,
You are so full of it ! Hillary is so afraid of Trump it isn’t even funny. He will point out so many of her lies and inconsistencies as well as her Spend Thrift policies. Most voters listening to her know she wants this office so bad she is willing to do anything, making promises that the United States cannot possibly make come true without going broke !
Does Greece come to Mind?
albsolutely, we are in big trouble & if we don’t vote for what’s good for the USA we’ve had it…
Paul T;
Wait a minute….Rumor has it that we are already broke….Guess that would make us all brokers… Have a blessed day !
Rubio would be great debater against Hillary but Carly Fiorini would be also and she that with navigate the women’s part of it
Fiorini does not have the gravitas or political experience of Rubio. However, she or Carson would be a good choice for the V.P. spot. Frankly, I don’t get the idea that Carson really wants to be President, but I can see him thinking the V.P. position was a personal win for him. And he would add a lot to the ticket as would Fiorini–for different reasons. A Rubio/Carson ticket would take most of the Hispanic vote and probably a lot of the African-American vote away from Hillary. Fiorini would take much of the female vote away from Hillary. Conservative feminists would be much more likely to vote for a Rubio/Fiorini ticket than a Hillary + ? ticket. Which brings up a major point–who on earth is Hillary going to get as a running mate? There are rumours of Hillary having incipient health problems and, since she will only be six months younger than Ronald Reagan when he ran for President, the choice of a V.P. candidate is an important consideration. It has been said by more than one political pundit that Pappy Bush was the real President during Reagan’s second term because of Reagan’s increasing cognitive problems.
If you are ready for open borders then Rubio is your man-not one more foot of border will be built or illegal immigration curtailed !
This Country is worse than BROKE and this critical issue needs to be dealt with and there isn’t anyone more equipped to accomplish this as well as just changing the “spendthrift climate” in Washington than Trump.
Trump/Cruz or possibly Trump/Rubio is our best chance of surviving financially. We have been printing money to the tune of 80 billion per month since shortly after this clown took office and our debt is drowning the Country.
Do me a favor and listen to Congressman Dave Brat. He says entitlement programs will take up the entire Federal Budget by 2024-does Greece come to Mind !
Paul T.,
You don’t make sense. Why would you vote for Rubio or Cruz in second place if you are so against them? That having been said, who better to deal with the issues at the southern U.S. border than someone with whom Hispanics identify–like Rubio or Cruz? Hispanic people couldn’t claim prejudice over Rubio’s or Cruz’s administrative solutions, since both are sons of Hispanic immigrants (and since their parents were legal immigrants they are unlikely to be terribly understanding about illegal immigrants). Unlike Cruz, Rubio was actually born in the U.S. which is an important consideration.
How much do you really know about Trump other than his undignified ranting? He is a fringe actor and fringe actors do not get elected (think of the reactionary, Goldwater from 1964). Do you really think that the great mass of American voters will vote for someone like Trump, who the rest of the world thinks is clown? Trump only appeals to a shrinking fringe of the GOP. I repeat–the Clinton forces are drooling over the idea of Trump being the GOP nominee. It would be a repeat of the Johnson vs. Goldwater election. Just as it was a landslide for Johnson, it would be a landslide for Hillary. Goldwater was seen as much too much of a loose cannon (just the way Trump will be depicted in the media, if he is the nominee). Goldwater only carried six states in ’64.
One truly disgusting element in all of these debates has been that topics more often reflect the moderator’s point of view than those of the candidates. During the last debate, CNN successful “cats-in-a-bag” strategy demonstrated than none of our candidates, except perhaps Marco Rubio, had the moxy to sidestep the resulting fiasco and move on to serious and substantive topics that actually matter to American voters.
Now CNBC’s John Harwood gets HIS crack at the candidates. Harwood is no “reporter,” but is instead the quintessential political hack. This is the same guy who regularly defends Hillary Clinton’s every indiscretion, and “gushes” over every Obama foreign battlefield retreat or domestic “executive order.” He is the same partisan liberal apologist who “fondly remembers ‘ending’ Rick Perry’s 2012 presidential bid” and would relish nothing more than doing the same to other Republican candidates, particularly those who are frontrunners. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus should be drawn and quartered for agreeing to put his guys against the wall in front of this disingenuous, duplicitous and pointy-headed fraud- of-a-newsman.
Nonetheless, I am determined to ignore the cacophony in tonight’s debate and watch carefully to determine which of our candidates has the courage, intellect and the skills to overcome Hopalong Harwood et al. in order to communicate his/her message to voters, against all odds.
Unlike the Democrats, the Republicans are faced with a huge collection of candidates who are qualified to be president. Any of the Republicans on the debate stage tonight would be more competent than the current president.
I think Jeb is probably a nice guy. Unfortunately his father and brother left a legacy most people don’t want to see as a third act. Under both Bush administrations our nation has won a war only to create a bigger problem once the war ended. Both Bush administrations ended with an economic downturn. Papa Bush left us in a recession. Bubba Bush left with our nation in a near total economic collapse. Some encores are received well by the public–a Bush as president is not one of them.
Justin,
Great comments ! Jebbie is about as dynamic as frozen block of ice !
Hillary wants this election to go down in history as the first couple ever to be Mr. President and Mrs. president ever, as a husband and wife ever to be President of the U.S.Of A. and she knows it will be a forever thing. Never to happen again. She will give anything to have this happen.
She is the single most INCOMPETENT person running for office and possibly of all time!
She doesn’t have a clue about the financial condition the US is in !
If you want to know who is most conservative on the issues, check out the website I stumbled on. They will tell you why they think so, if you click on the issue. Ted Cruz is consistently conservative on every count. Check it out: ConservativeReview.com
Judy;
Amen to that, but most people just pick a candidate that they just like, and won’t bother to do any research at all….Ted Cruz has taken the fight to both parties and that’s why he’s not well liked in the District of Corruption… He’s a true Constitutional Consistent Conservative…..Check it all out for yourselves !….Have a blessed day !
Why is Ted Cruz running for president? Wasn’t he born in Canada? I thought that only a U.S. born citizen was qualify to run for president, not an naturlized american person.
Jose;
Obbey’s Grandmother said he was born in Kenya….I’m quite sure that’s not part of the U.S. either ?….Have a blessed day !
Absolutely Phil Sargent, everyone knows obama is not a citizen of the United States and that he was born in Kenya but they don’t care enough to do anything about it or they are to scared to try to do anything about it.
Cruz is a natural born citizen because he was born to an American mother. He is awarded her citizenship at birth. Definitions are vague.
There is no “race” or “winning” anything people, it’s all a show put on by The Global Power Elites.
Well, I wouldn’t say that exactly, Mr. Chris. While the global elites do play their role in the nominating process (they determine who will or will not get media coverage, for example) they are not quite as powerful as some conspiracy-minded people think they are. The elites do determine which of the candidates are acceptable to them and then they support those candidates with money and media coverage, in an attempt to sway the voters, but it is not really just “a show”. A lot of what seems like “a show” is the political maneuverings of the parties themselves. It is similar to a chess game–the players with the most raw talent and experience are the ones who usually win. Hillary is easily defeated because she has virtually NO political talent. Bill is the only reason why she is where she is. HE is the one with very shrewd political instincts and he is playing a much bigger role in this campaign even though they are keeping him in the background for fear that he will annoy the voters like he did the last time. Of course, Hillary is quite good at irritating the voters herself. Her arrogance is legendary and the American voters do NOT like that. Confidence yes, arrogance no. She did a very good job against the Republican “Junior Bird-Men” show. She looked like the innocent victim of a witch hunt (even though she is something of a witch). And they didn’t even attack her on the points they could have–they were strictly amateur. A chess game, my friends. The Republicans need to quit fooling around and get down to the business of winning this election. It is theirs to lose, and lose it they will, if they don’t get their head into the game. Where are the GOP strategists? Maybe they are trying to look like buffoons in order to cause the Dems to be over-confident (read arrogance)? I hope so.
The only viable candidate running for president in the Republican Party is Donald Trump!
If he is not the republican candidate I hope he runs as an independent. Trump is what this
country needs to get rid of all the hogwash that has been corrupting the US for many, many
years and really putting the screws to the private sector.
It’s time to take down the bird feeder and restore the capital to the people who have suffered
because of ridiculous taxes supporting the bird feeder. If here is no feeder than the birds
disappear!!!
If we do not get Trump we will get the same old same old lawyer that we keep getting. Obama? Look what he did to health care. Legalizsed extortion. He is free with the lives of our young men, but do you see any of his kids put in harms way. You could say the same thing about Senators & representatives. I will use the word representatives loosely, because we are not represented. Paid lobbying has killed Democracy. Is it any wonder that Costa Rica does not allow lawyers to run for public office??? I wonder why? If you took out all the lawyers in our government we would have a very small government, which might not be so bad. If the President of the USA can only serve two four year terms how come senators and representatives can be in for life which most of them are and when they finally retire what do they do? They become lobbyists to keep the band wagon rolling along as usual. Too bad the majority of voters do not know what they are voting for. We are in bad need of term limits.
Well Sue the problem you have is you are an uninformed voter one of the problems we have in this country and why we are in the condition we are in. to start with, Trumped bailed out before the bankruptcies and the contractors were still using his name when the bankruptcies occurred. Second you are right about the name calling which was prompted by the people that were running the debates, when you are swung at, you swing back. Third, Carson attacked Trumps religion before Trump attacked Carson on his religion. What it really sounds like to me is that Horns News is against Trump and does not tell the whole story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well Mr. Jose A. Rodriguez, what we have here is another uninformed voter, you need to get the facts before making uninformed voter statements. what you need to do is get you a copy of the U.S. Constitution, read it then make your statements on facts, not hearsay.